Ice
by shannyfish
Summary: Alex is attacked by Parasite and ends up in the med bay while her friends go after it. When J'onn and the other agents don't check back in, Alex and Benanti are forced to take matters into their own hands. Sort of an AU of "Changing".


Alex didn't like this, but she knew that it was better that she and J'onn lead the DEO team to the facility than to send someone else in. Sure, they could have sent Adler and her team in, but having her and Benanti back at the DEO was going to be a lot better in this situation. They didn't know what had happened in the facility except that they'd lost contact and the last reports from it had been...troubling. Having J'onn along meant that they had Martian Manhunter power should they need it.

"Keep your eyes open," J'onn instructed the bundled up team.

These were all people that he'd trained and they trusted. Alex moved off to the right, her weapon out and ready, and out of the corner of her eye watched as J'onn went in the other direction. They were far from National City and Kara wasn't there as back up. They only had each other, which was just fine, Alex just liked having the buffer of knowing that Kara or additional back up could be there at a moment's notice.

It was dark, the entire base obviously hadn't lost power because there were lights flickering here and there. The place was freezing inside, though, likely because the thermostat had been cranked down _or_ because that was something that was actually broken. No matter the reason, she was glad that she was still well bundled up. Agent Meyers was moving slowly, just behind her over her shoulder. She could see him out of the corner of her eye as they continued to check that section of the facility. It wasn't large, but they were taking it slow and being extra careful.

Alex moved to open a door that led to a bedroom, she stepped inside before finding out that they were not alone in the most terrifying way possible. A gunshot went off just feet from where she was. Meyers. Her first thoughts were of her fellow DEO agent as she swung around in the direction of Meyers and the sound of the shot. To her surprise and shock, Meyers was being held up by his throat, his feet not able to touch the ground, and the life clearly draining from his eyes. Without thinking of anything else except Meyer's safety, she opened fire on the creature. It released Meyer, whose dark hair apparently to have turned grey. The creature didn't seem harmed, just pissed off.

"Danvers," she heard Meyers croak out as he hit the floor.

There was no time to react, no time to move to check on Meyers or even to reach for her radio to warn the others. No time to feel the horror or shock of what she'd just seen. Alex found herself being charged at. There was no room except all the way into the bedroom for her to go and no time to turn, so she peddled backwards in an effort to put as much space between her and the humanoid creature. She wasn't sure what it was, but nothing about it seemed human.

Her gun was aimed and at the ready, but she started to tumble backwards hitting what had to be the bed or the desk that had been in the small sparsely furnished bedroom. Before she could hit the wall or the floor or anything else, she was grabbed by the throat. There was a weird almost slight icy tingle she felt at where his hands came into contact with her skin and then it was like it was slowly radiating through her body like tendrils. She held her gun against the chest of the creature, their eyes meeting, and started to empty her gun-

Just as quickly as his cold fingers had wrapped around her neck, they were pulled back and away. She gasped for breath and fell backwards finally hitting the ground. As she looked up, she watched as J'onn in his martian form fought the humanoid that had attacked her. Alex tried to push herself to her feet and found herself unable to do so in that moment. A wave of severe fatigue hit her and she realized she was having trouble keeping her eyes open. Alex was lightheaded and it already felt like it was spinning a little bit. There was no reason why she should feel that way...she'd slept, she'd eaten, and she'd seriously caffeinated.

"Alex," J'onn said and she suddenly realized that he was no longer fighting the guy who had attacked her. He was crouched down in front of her and she could see the other guy on the ground behind him. His hands reached out to hold onto her arms. "Alex?"

"I don't really feel so okay," she mumbled as she struggled to keep her eyes open. "Meyers?"

"Dead."

Alex let out a gasp and then she realized that she was losing the fight against staying conscious. "J'onn," she tried to get out weakly. "I-"

Her sentence never finished and she found J'onn holding tighter to her as she passed out right there and then sitting on the floor.

* * *

Waking up for moments here and there was almost surreal for Alex as she found herself just staring up and mostly just seeing a bright light. Sometimes she'd been able to tell that it was the sky while other times she knew it was a light. All the time, though, she'd known she wasn't alone.

So, when she woke again, she wasn't afraid or worried or scared...because she knew whatever had happened...whatever was going on...she wouldn't be alone. "J'onn?" she whispered. Alex swore that he was the reason why she hadn't felt so alone. She was convinced as her eyes opened that he was the reason that he had somewhat been in her head, just enough to remind her that someone was there with her. She blinked and realized that she was in one of the medical rooms, the daylight shining in on her.

"He's not here right now."

It took her a moment to connect the voice to a name and a moment later the person came into focus anyways. "Maggie?" Alex whispered surprised, but happily so.

"I'm here," Maggie told her. There was a bright smile on her face and it was then that Alex realized she'd been holding her hand. "Do you want me to go get him?"

"No," Alex whispered and squeezed her hand. She pushed out a breath, her eyes closing, and focused just on the fact that she wasn't alone. Taking that moment, she tried to assess herself. How tired she was, if she hurt anywhere, if she could move limbs. Her eyes opened again and she noticed that Maggie seemed to be studying her. "Did they tell you what happened?"

"They were a little vague," Maggie admitted. "Supergirl was doing the anxious pacing when I got here and then flew off. Your boss is the one who called me. He said that you were hurt on a mission, but he also didn't go into details."

J'onn was likely not sure about Maggie, but then at the same time...Alex started to wonder as to why J'onn called her. It wasn't that Alex wasn't happy to see Maggie there, it was more that she hadn't talked to J'onn and she and Maggie hadn't really had a talk about what they were… There were questions there, but she knew she'd have to wait to answer them.

"Did they get the-"

"I have no idea," Maggie told her. "All I know is that things have been busy…" Maggie turned in her chair and then motioned beyond the med bay area. "Whatever is going on...they don't seem to have much downtime. Some Adler woman handed me a donut and told me I couldn't

Alex pushed herself up into a sitting position and then cringed.

"Take it slow."

"I think it just drained me…"

"Drained?" Maggie questioned and was on her feet nearly immediately.

Alex hung her head and just sucked in a breath, trying to tell her body that she didn't care how tired, stiff, or sore it was...she couldn't just lie in bed while things needed to be done.

"Like draining life energy?"

It was then that she realized that Maggie was in police mode.

"What did it look like? Was-"

"It looked like some guy off the street," Alex said as she waved a hand in the air. Maggie took a step like she was going to leave and Alex just reached out and grabbed her arm. "Wait-"

"Alex?" The voice caught her off guard. It caught her even more off guard when her mother actually appeared (good to know that she wasn't hallucinating) with Kara dressed as Supergirl trailing behind her. "Oh, Alex… Kara said that you had been hurt," her mother continued without even apparently caring or concerning herself with Maggie being right there. Alex and Kara had no time to stop her mother from going on. Her mother was right there by her side and was looking her over. "What happened? What hurt?"

"I'm fine, just... _tired_ …" Alex tried to brush off.

"Kara flew me all the way here-"

"May-be I should go and find Doctor Hamilton," Kara spoke up. "Eliza, why don't you come with me?"

"Wait," Maggie spoke up. "Kara... " she said as she pointed to Supergirl. "Supergirl is Alex's sister...this is all making so much sense…"

"I'm sorry, Kara," Alex said looking straight at her sister. She knew that that was Kara's secret. It wasn't Alex's to tell and even though she hadn't, it still felt like it was her fault.

"It's _okay_ , Alex," her sister replied gently.

"I'm confused," Eliza said looking between them.

Maggie was the one who spoke first. "I didn't know that Kara Danvers was Supergirl...but I do now...and it makes so much more sense."

"Who are you?"

"Detective Maggie Sawyer," she said as she held out her hand to Eliza.

"Detective?"

"Yeah, sometimes we work cases together."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you."

Alex just watched them and then looked towards Kara. She was still feeling guilty about Maggie now knowing about Kara. The truth was, even though it felt like she had known Maggie for so long, she really hadn't known her that long. Even though she knew that Maggie was a good person and that fought for alien rights, this was her sister...and she still was worried and a little upset about it.

"Eliza?" Kara prompted with a nod of her head.

"Why do I need to go with you again?" Eliza asked.

"Because you're going to ask Doctor Hamilton like a billion questions and Maggie doesn't need to hear them," Kara said as she took her adoptive mother's arm and led her out of the room.

"So...that's your mom...and sister," Maggie said with a smile and a nod.

"Yeah-"

"I get why that's a secret," Maggie told her. "Kara, I mean…not your mom."

Alex beamed at that. "Yeah, well we keep her hidden away in Midvale normally...but she's...well, she's my mom."

"She's fierce."

"I tend to think in other vocabulary words."

Maggie laughed at that. "I think we all do when it comes to our parents."

"You're not mad about Kara?"

"No. I get it. I just hope that this means that you don't have to hide so much from me anymore."

And it did feel good. Kara was such a beautiful part of her life, but her sister also meant so many secrets that she had to keep. Maggie was the first person who wasn't part of their circle of people who knew about Kara being Supergirl (and Kryptonian) that was a friend to her...and maybe something more.

Alex went to get to her feet, but the door swung open and she found herself being glared at. Crap. This wasn't going to be good. It wasn't even her mother or Doctor Hamilton, no...it was someone much worse. "Danvers, if you leave this med bay, so help me," Adler started to threaten quite grumpily. "Don't make me send Lara in here…or take away your donut privileges…"

"This place confuses me more and more everytime I come here," Maggie commented.

"Lara's my wife," Adler told her.

"And who you hit on when you were first here," Alex added.

"Sorry," Maggie said with a shrug. "She was cute and contagiously adorable."

"It's her superpower," Adler said. "And donuts are _serious_ business around here…"

"Noted."

Alex found herself practically being tucked back into bed by Adler. She sighed and didn't fight it. "You know, I could sit out there with Winn…"

"Or you could stay here and supervise this room," Adler told her. "Maybe you can borrow one of Winn's video games."

"All the handheld ones he has suck," Alex grumbled.

"Right, well...read a book," she suggested. "The boss has some in his office, I'm sure Lara would have no problem going in and scouting the book selection." Adler shrugged then looked to Maggie. "And if you want to be welcome here...and possibly see another donut in your future, then you're going to make sure she stays here."

"Why don't I feel like that's a subtle attempt at ordering me to do something even though I'm not a DEO agent," Maggie pointed out.

"Not everyone can be as awesome as us," Adler told her before leaving the med bay.

"Did she really just...say that?" Maggie asked as she finally turned back to Alex.

"Yeah," Alex said. "You get used to her."

"I like her."

* * *

Half the day had passed and between Maggie and Benanti, she'd been kept entertained for the most part...but not distracted to the point that she wasn't constantly checking the view she had to see if there was any real reason for her to defy Adler (and basically everyone) and go put herself out in the middle of whatever was going on. "Do you know what's going on out there?"

"Yep."

Alex's face snapped to where Lara was sitting as she snacked on her kettle corn. Her eyes narrowed and she waited for Lara's eyes to meet hers. They'd known each other a long time, which was _likely_ why she was there...because she knew that Alex would try to leave med bay. "Tell me."

"Why torture yourself?"

"Alice is out there, right?"

"Right," Lara said through a mouthful of kettle corn.

"That thing that they're looking for...it's dangerous, Lara… It killed Meyers in less than a minute, it would have killed me too if not for-"

Instead of frightening her though, Lara just waved her hand. " _Psh_ … Alice will take whatever that thing is down… I'm not even worried, plus the boss and Supergirl are out with her. Harewood is her exit buddy."

"It's still cute that you use that term."

"I don't know why Davis gets so upset when he's my exit buddy," Lara said with a shrug.

"Probably because you like to sing 'Just keep fighting, just keep fighting... What do we do? We fight, fight, fight!'" Alex imitated. Now Lara was just beaming at her. "What?"

"I'm so glad that I'm so memorable."

"Trust me, Benanti, no one will _ever_ forget you," Alex assured.

"You're still not leaving…" Lara told her a moment later. "So, tell me about Maggie…"

"You've met her."

"She's hit on me, yes."

"I feel like that happens often."

"The best moment is always when Alice walks back up and introduces herself as my wife," Benanti beamed with pride. Alex knew all about Adler and Benanti and their pasts, how they fell in love, and how they continue to love… So she knew how Adler was when it came to her wife, they were both so proud of their relationship and their family. "You know...maybe you need a wife."

"I-I think that there's a whole bunch of steps that come first before there's a spousal title given out," Alex stumbled as she sat up. She wasn't getting out of bed, but she was sitting upright just the same. She just couldn't lie there, she needed to be at least more alert...to feel like it was possible that she could actually go at a moment's notice if needed. Also, it was a better feeling position because Lara's conversation was catching her off guard. The subject wasn't something that Alex was completely comfortable with.

"Well, if you're going to follow the order that Alice and I took...you have to live together and argue all the time first," Benanti half teased. It was true, though, that's how it began with Adler and Benanti, they had been sharing Adler's place until Benanti could find a place of her own for herself and her daughter, Charlie. Adler had been basically been volunteered into doing it because of J'onn, there was still the wonder if he might have had a hand in their matchmaking. If he'd somehow known all along that they were perfect for each other.

"I think that I'll stick with living alone still," Alex said with a slight tilt of her head.

"I'm actually surprised you and Kara don't live together," Lara put out there. "You two are so close and you live in the same city...and neither of you seem to be dating…"

Alex glared at her. "Is this some kind of hint?"

"I mean, I was just pointing out facts, but I mean you _could_ call it a _nudge_ …" Lara stared at her for a long moment. "Maggie seems pretty nice...and badass...and hot…"

"Oh-kay…"

"You're blushing…"

"I am not," Alex argued as she covered her face just in case she was. If she hadn't been before, she definitely was now.

"I had no idea that you were more than just second in command here."

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, you're not wearing a crown right now...but you're obviously the queen of denial too," Lara said with a completely straight face.

* * *

"Okay, we're going."

"Whoa...what happened?"

"They're not back. They're an hour overdue. They're not answering calls. Suit up, let's go."

Alex had so many questions, but she pushed them all away and was just glad that her mother had stepped out of the building just minutes before to get coffee and something to eat. The last thing she needed was to fight her mother about this. She pushed back the covers and swung her feet over the side of the medical bed. For a moment, she let them hang there before easing forward, her hands clinging to the edge of the bed as her feet made contact with the hard floor below. She eased her weight completely onto them and felt an enormous sense of relief when her knees didn't buckle and that she could actually support her own weight.

"I don't have time for you to break into song about how you have your legs again, Danvers, let's go!" Benanti shouted and was dragging her out of there still dressed in medical clothing (which luckily was scrubs and not one of those horrible backless gowns).

As she was yanked through the command area, she would maybe be mortified if it was anywhere else but these people were used to seeing Benanti dragging other agents through...so...it was just a Monday. She tapped Winn as she was pulled through. "Please tell me that you have something to help us."

"Working on it!" he called.

"Work faster!"

Benanti had her into the locker room in a blink and Alex started to change without saying anything. It was like an automatic kind of thing where Alex just went to work getting dressed into her tactical gear. It was something that she'd had far too much practice in and could likely do in her sleep. "Do we have a location?" she questioned. When she'd gone out with J'onn before, they'd been in parkas and Alex couldn't honestly remember if it had been colder outside the facility than the the alien's icy grip on her.

"Other side of the city."

Well, at least they were close.

"Plan?" Alex questioned as she snapped her kevlar vest in place.

"Kill the thing. Grab our people. Drink beers," Benanti said flatly. All the cheer and normal bounciness was gone from Lara. It was an odd thing for people who didn't know her, but Alex knew her...and she knew that Lara was hurting and worried. Alex knew that Benanti would give her life for her wife, but that at the same time...she was probably worrying that this might be it...the mission that Adler didn't come back from. How did you go home from that? How did you go on? What could she tell Charlie that would ease the sorrow?

No, this wasn't going to be the end.

"Agreed," Alex finally said. "Armory?"

"Big ass guns are definitely needed."

* * *

"Something you should know, Danvers," Benanti said as they pulled up to the place where all they still had live trackers for everyone had left the DEO. "Detective Sawyer went with them."

" _Of course_ she did," was all Alex could think to say as they got out of the black SUV.

They went in, their team at the ready and completely uncertain as to what they'd find. The location was an old warehouse, which was typical. Alex was just glad that when they walked in that it seemed to be mostly unstructured interior. What they found were all their agents, including J'onn and Kara strung up. J'onn and Kara didn't look good, which probably had to do with being life sucked (or whatever the humanoid creature did) since there were two agents beside them that looked like husks. She sucked in a breath and squinted and spotted Adler, Maggie, and Harewood were all still alive, she pushed it out in a huff. "You see them?" she whispered to Benanti.

"Yep."

Alex studied Benanti. She was all in, there was no bright sweetness about her in that moment. These were their people, Benanti's wife, and Alex's sister on the line. They couldn't fail. "You good?"

"No power in the 'verse can stop me."

Like with Kara, sometimes this was their own special language. "I aim to misbehave," Alex said with a nod.

Benanti turned to Torres. "Everyone in place?"

"Ready, Ma'am."

They had no eyes on the creature, but they had the building surrounded. Alex's current concern (and she was sure it was the same for Benanti) was for the health and safety of their people. She'd been bedridden for how long? The creature had touched her for such a brief period of time and Meyers had died… They needed to get their people out and they needed to do it now.

Moving into the space, they were almost immediately attacked. The thing was, they were all moving in at once, so it was all this mass array of radio comms and gunshots and people just scrambling. Everyone had been briefed that they weren't to make any physical contact with the creature because it was likely a guarantee of death. At least the creature was busy with their chaotic distraction and leaving its hostages (or likely what he was keeping as food) alone.

They'd brought an array of an arsenal with them with the hopes that something would be strong enough to take it down. Bullets didn't really seem to faze it, but there were grenades and other specialized explosive projectiles. Other than that, the only thing they had as a plan was to get the hostages out and have the entire building taken out. That was the last resort, but it was still a plan that they could act on if need be.

"We've got to get them down from there!" Alex called out.

It seemed like that was herself making herself a target all of the sudden because the creature came after her. It was larger and looked less human, but it was definitely the same thing that had almost killed her at the facility before. Alex ran for her life, dodging, and trying to think before she lept.

"Someone ever tries to kill you! You kill'em right back!" she heard Harewood shout.

She absolutely adored that man. He was quiet and would much rather not be around the craziness of Adler and Benanti, but he was such a dear friend to them all. Alex knew that he was probably only thinking about his wife and kids and living through this all...being able to get home to them. They were going to make sure that no one else died today.

 _You have to overload him_.

Alex came to a complete halt. The sentence had come into her head like a whisper, but it was attached to a voice. "J'onn?" she whispered and looked around. It was right at the moment that the creature swung at her. She went flying backwards, her eyes catching J'onn strung up. He looked like crap, but he was stirring. She'd never heard him before, not like this...not with him using his powers to speak to her. "We need more power!" she shouted and hoped that someone would understand without her spelling it out.

Getting to her feet, she was joined by two other DEO agents and they started a dance of sorts with the creature which involved alternating grenades and various bullets. It didn't do anything major, but it did prove to slow down the creature. It all felt like it was in slow motion, she focused on keeping an eye on the other two agents as they continued to move. Alex was ready to intervene if she needed to, though she wasn't sure exactly how much help she could actually offer.

"Miranda," was whispered through the comms.

It wasn't often that they stuck to themes like this, but often it was something to anchor them. Right now, everyone was completely focused even though it might seem otherwise. Even though they hadn't gone over this before, everyone that had come in from the DEO immediately started to move towards where their people were.

Out of nowhere, one of the black SUVs slammed through the wall that had once had the door on it, straight on in and right into the creature. Benanti was behind the wheel and had the creature pinned between a pillar (which Alex was hoping would hold) and the SUV. For the moment at least, the creature wasn't going anywhere. Benanti was out of the car and moving towards them, the team already working to extract their people. "We have to move. Our other plan is coming in to take care of this thing," Benanti announced.

The place was going to be bombed basically.

Alex moved quickly to remove the bonds that were holding both Kara and J'onn. Torres already had Adler free and was working on Harewood and Maggie. "Well look at this," Alex spoke up as she helped Kara move in the general direction everyone was going. " 'pears we got here in the nick of time. What does that make us?"

"Big damn heroes," Benanti and Kara said at the same time.

"Ain't we just?" Alex watched as what was left of the dead agents were moved out the warehouse. It was times like these that made all of their weird quoting a necessary thing to stay sane. You had to not delve so deeply in how much you were surrounded by death and horrible ugly things that were out there in the world. You had to have some kind of rays of sunlight or else you'd be lost in the darkness.

"I swear by my pretty floral bonnet I will end you all if you don't stop," Adler half seriously threatened.

"But Alice, when you can't run...you crawl...and when you can't crawl...when you can't do that…" Lara told her wife as she led her out of the warehouse.

Alice sighed. Alex wasn't sure if it was in defeat or just because she had hoped that they'd stop with the quote festival by then. "You find someone to carry you."

Everyone was out of the building except the creature, who they'd heard making some headway in moving the vehicle off of it. It didn't have time to escape though because the building went up shortly after they'd exited. They all waited around since no one was seriously injured. Kara and J'onn had taken the worst of it (besides the agents they'd lost) and they would have been dead too if not for their alien DNA. Kara was doing better than J'onn, which worried Alex. She was far more familiar with Kara's Kryptonian DNA than J'onn's Green Martian DNA.

The fire burned and though the fire department eventually showed up (they had to wait for it to burn enough and be able to survey it after so long to ensure that the creature was in fact taken care of) and put it out, they still waited. They had bodies that would be taken back to the DEO and families that would need to be notified.

Alex had clung to Kara for most of it, J'onn was nearby, and Maggie had somehow slipped two fingers in to hold onto two of Alex's fingers on the other side. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough. Benanti and Adler had been inseparable since Adler had been pulled out. They would get to go home to their daughter, but not everyone had been so lucky.

"We should go," J'onn finally said.

"Are we going to talk about the geek fest that was going on during our rescue?" Maggie questioned.

"First rule of fight club?" Benanti put out there.

"So, that's a 'no'?"

"Yes sir, Captain Tightpants!"

Maggie looked a little taken aback by Benanti's quote at her. Alex couldn't argue it though because Maggie did wear tight pants and there was no complaining about it. There was a long pause of silence as people were piling into the SUVs. Alex didn't know if it was because Maggie just didn't have a response or because she was still thinking of one.

"So say we all?" Maggie put out there.

It wasn't the right reference, but there would still be appreciation for it.

Alex climbed in next to Maggie and held her hand. She didn't care who saw. "So say we all," Alex echoed and it was soon echoed by everyone else in the vehicle.

* * *

"How are you feeling?"

"Old."

Alex smiled at that as she stared down at him. It was so odd to see him lying down in a medical bed. It was normally her or one of the agents and he'd come to check up on them. With J'onn's regeneration ability, it wasn't often that he was down for long. That was why this time scared her so much, it wasn't just that he was hurt...it was that he looked like the creature could have killed him...that she could have lost him. "I'm not sure we're doing enough to jump start your-"

"I'll be fine," he assured as he took her hand in his.

"Kara's already home with Eliza-"

"Which is where you should be."

Alex ignored his comment and continued. "Adler and Benanti are home with Charlie, Harewood is home with his wife and kids, and-"

He seemed to already know what was coming. She wasn't sure if her face had given it away, or if it was because her voice broke...or if it was just because he was still keeping his mind open to her. "Alex, I would have-"

"It's not like I haven't contacted families before, I just…"

He was quiet for a long moment and they allowed the trail off to be lost.

"What about Detective Sawyer?"

"She's waiting for me-"

"Why is it that you turn with so many emotions about something that you know should be so easy?" he questioned.

Alex smiled. "Because it's not."

"It doesn't have to be complicated."

"The world we live in-"

"Love shouldn't be complicated, Alex. If you care about her, then you should tell her… You shouldn't let society stop you. You shouldn't let anything stop you. Take it from someone who knows exactly what it feels like to lose… Love is a precious thing."

"What if I'm not sure it's really-"

"Isn't it better to take a chance?"

She wiped away tears that had fallen and she hadn't realized. "You really like getting into my head, don't you?"

"I don't mean to pry, Alex," he said gently. "I have just looked out for you with an open mind for some time now. It is difficult to stop such a habit when you are so dear to me."

"I did hear you in the warehouse, didn't I? You were in my head?"

"You didn't overload it," J'onn told her without answering her question directly.

"I couldn't think of anything we had that would have been a high enough source of energy to overload it," Alex admitted. "Benanti beat me to something that would be effective enough to take it down."

"In the end, all that matters is that we're home."

"Yes."

"Go on," J'onn told her. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Are you sure-"

"I am."

The look he was giving her told her that she couldn't argue her way around this. She couldn't make excuses. She needed to just go. So, she did. Alex pressed a kiss to his forehead and then left the med bay. Finding Maggie was easy because she was trying to actually act like she understood what Winn was babbling about. "Let's go," she said as she held out a hand.

Maggie seemed to look at her offered hand for just a moment before taking it. "Bye Winn," she said before walking off with Alex.

This was what she needed. She needed it to be just the two of them even if it was for just a few minutes. "You okay?"

"I was going to ask you that same exact question."

"I wasn't kidnapped by an alien life sucker."

" _This_ time."

That was fair.

Alex sighed as they neared her vehicle. "I don't know. All I know is that I feel this coldness inside of me, like ice...because I keep thinking about how everyone could have died...how everyone almost died. It's like I can feel the icy life sucking tendrils all over again, but it's not stopping."

"Creepy," Maggie replied. "So, how about we do something? Something that'll warm you up."

"I don't know, Maggie...I really don't feel like I'm up to-"

And before Alex cold say anything else, Maggie had her hand to Alex's cheek and her lips were initiating a kiss that Alex had been thinking about. She melted into it, the world around her fading away, as her only thought was about the kiss.

Maggie pulled away and Alex was still in a state of half shock that that had just happened. She just stared at Maggie as her eyes lit up and she held onto Alex's hand. "So, I'm thinking pajamas, chinese, and Netflix…"

"You're totally reading my mind right now," she finally managed to get out a few beats later.

"But like...just that...it's not like that weird Netflix and chill code people go with," Maggie told her.

"Noted."

Maggie started to pull her towards the exit once again. "You have beer at your place, right?"

"That's one of the few things I actually have there."

"Well, then it sounds like a nice night in to me."

Alex was completely fine with this idea. She wasn't quite sure what was going on between her and Maggie, but she was just happy about being able to spend time with her. She wasn't sure if doing so back at her place was going to be easier or harder than it was in public spaces, but they were going to find out.

* * *

The End.


End file.
